HELP: Shooting at high noon (bright sunny day, not much shade): How to take picture at high noon (bright sunny day)? Mar 3rd was a bright sunny day and I was at the L.A. Zoo. The Zoo...

Dietxanadu

How to take picture at high noon (bright sunny day)?

Mar 3rd was a bright sunny day and I was at the L.A. Zoo. The Zoo faces east and didnt open until 10am. By the time I was inside and ready to take pictures it was almost high noon, very bright and little shade.

I now that the best time to shot would be early morning or after the sunset, but how can I shot at high noon?

Thanks

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Dietxanadu wrote:

I now that the best time to shot would be early morning or after the sunset, but how can I shot at high noon?

Thanks

You are going to have to be more specific....the answer to the question above is:

The same way you'd shoot ANY time of day....with a proper exposure.

Do you want to be more specific?

GDRoth Loc: Southeast Michigan USA

CPL and/or ND filters...

Dietxanadu

rpavich wrote:

Dietxanadu wrote:

I now that the best time to shot would be early morning or after the sunset, but how can I shot at high noon?

Thanks

You are going to have to be more specific....the answer to the question above is:

The same way you'd shoot ANY time of day....with a proper exposure.

Do you want to be more specific?

Well I should have mentioned that light was bouncing off the cement. It was almost blinding. So I guess I could have used a high f/stop or just used Auto and come back another day.

Dietxanadu

GDRoth wrote:

CPL and/or ND filters...

Canon UV Haze filter on a 75-300mm lens

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Dietxanadu wrote:

quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu I now that the be... (show quote)

Are you asking how to expose when the light is bright?

Dietxanadu

rpavich wrote:

quote=Dietxanadu quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu... (show quote)

Yes, Very bright and bouncing all over the place

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Dietxanadu wrote:

quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu quote=rpavich q... (show quote)

The same way you expose when it's cloudy....how do you normally expose a shot?

Do you understand how ISO, shutter speed and f/stops work together?

Dietxanadu

rpavich wrote:

quote=Dietxanadu quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu... (show quote)

Yes I do. It was so more light then I'm use to.
Thanks

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Dietxanadu wrote:

quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu quote=rpavich q... (show quote)

This confuses me.

If you know how these things work together, then why would this cause you a problem?

Just because it's cloudy or sunny or really sunny....why would that be functionally any different?

You decide what your creative intent is: you set the aperture and shutter speed and ISO accordingly.

Not sure why this is confusing.

Tom Woolworth Loc: Peoria, IL

Dietxanadu wrote:

How to take picture at high noon (bright sunny day)?

Mar 3rd was a bright sunny day and I was at the L.A. Zoo. The Zoo faces east and didnt open until 10am. By the time I was inside and ready to take pictures it was almost high noon, very bright and little shade.

I now that the best time to shot would be early morning or after the sunset, but how can I shot at high noon?

Thanks

Last year I did a helicopter shoot over the Chicagoland area. That Series was named "Aerial of Chicago the HIGH Noon Series".

The trip was planned for shooting at that time frame with minimum shade.
The original thought was no hard shadows being cast on the buildings
(Our flight altitude was 1000 feet for most of the trip).

It took some work in the post processing stages to save some of the shots due to the harsh sunlight Washing out some of the colors however, it was worth it based on how well the series is selling.
One bonus I did not plan on from that trip was the Black and White shots that came out.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/thomas-woolworth.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=118491

My advice is to simply study each ground shot with a closer eye on how the subject fits into the lighting part of the scene. Paying closer attention to the contrast part of the shot so that you have less post processing time correcting for the harshness.
Shooting at that period of time also leads to some interesting silhouette shots.

I've been doing this since 1977 the lighting part of the outdoor shots from this business has always been an on going learning curve for me.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

Dietxanadu wrote:

quote=rpavich quote=Dietxanadu I now that the be... (show quote)

You use the light - you use the contrast - you take what you are given and work with it the best you can. You might surprize yourself how creative you can be when the conditions are not as "perfect as we think they should be."

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

Well of couorse no one mentioned the extreme conditions..that black cat in the coal bin at midnite, the white cat in the snowbank at noon. So of course your meter will always try to make everything 18% gray and your lack of light in the first case will mean the black cat etc. becomes gray...and so does the white one. In the dark,the meter will OVERexpose;you need to compensate. In the bright light the meter will UNDERexpose,again you need to compensate. Sunny day at noon on a sidewalk can be a bit like a snow scene and you've probably read that you need to
INCREASE your exposure some,1/3,2/3 a full step or so at least.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

all are great but there is something special about the B&W. I spent a good part of my life in Chi Town and to me it was always a B&W kind of city.

Tom Woolworth wrote:

quote=Dietxanadu How to take picture at high noon... (show quote)

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I live in So Florida and know what you are talking about. Always squinting w/o sunglasses. I have found that there is so much light bouncing around that some things really get washed out in a photograph. I tend to really get as close as I can to my subject when I shot in that kind of light. I also tend to use my prime 50mm and this forces me to get close. I am not afraid to walk away from some shots if the 50 won't capture them. I keep a lens hood on my lens in these conditions.

Dietxanadu wrote:

How to take picture at high noon (bright sunny day)?

Mar 3rd was a bright sunny day and I was at the L.A. Zoo. The Zoo faces east and didnt open until 10am. By the time I was inside and ready to take pictures it was almost high noon, very bright and little shade.

I now that the best time to shot would be early morning or after the sunset, but how can I shot at high noon?

Thanks